Barry D. Elson, MD is the founder and Medical Director of Northampton Wellness Associates. He has practiced Integrative Medicine for 24 years, specializing in finding the safest and most effective treatments for chronic illness and allergies.

Dr. Elson graduated with honors from Yale University, then received his MD degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed his residency at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) in 1979. After working in remote parts of British Columbia, he lived in India and Nepal, where he studied indigenous healing methods.

Dr. Elson practiced family medicine in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. He served as a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical Medicine training program at the Pacific College of Naturopathic Medicine. He then served as Medical Director of the Commonweal Health Center in Bolinas, California, where he provided care for chronically ill patients from all over the country. He practiced allergy and primary care in Florence, Oregon, and then worked as an Emergency Physician in Ware, Massachusetts.

In 1985, Dr. Elson returned to New England for good, and founded Northampton Wellness Associates. Here, he has recruited a team of outstanding practitioners to join him in providing high quality, multidisciplinary, integrative medical care.

He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the American College for Advancement in Medicine, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, the American Holistic Medical Association, the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy, the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (and the special committee on food allergy), and the Pan American Allergy Society.

Dr. Elson is an avid mountain biker, swimmer, volleyball player, windsurfer and sailor. He and his wife Vicki have three grown children and two amazing grandchildren.


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Darren Lynch, MD joined Northampton Wellness Associates in January, 2003, following completion of an Integrative Medicine Fellowship at the Continuum Center for Health and Healing in New York City. There, he received training in a wide range of complementary and alternative healing modalities. He has published research articles in Alternative Medicine Alerts and Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

Dr. Lynch received his MD from Georgetown University, followed by a 3 year family practice residency at York Hospital. During the next 2 1/2 years in private practice, he became increasingly frustrated by the limitations of conventional medicine. He began his journey into integrative medicine by incorporating herbal remedies and osteopathic manipulative techniques, providing his patients with greater therapeutic choices.

Dr. Lynch practices from a Body/Mind/Spirit, patient-centered model of healing. He treats therapeutic relationships as partnerships in which doctor and patient decide together the path by which each patient may find optimal health. He seeks to find the underlying cause for illness and in doing so, embrace wellness. He treats patients of all ages and welcomes the opportunity to tackle any medical problem.

Dr. Lynch is board certified in Family Practice and Integrative Medicine. He is a member of the American College for the Advancement of Medicine, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, and the Pan American Allergy Society. He plays and coaches soccer, and enjoys hiking and spending time with his family.


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Lisa Brassard Nicotera, DC, RN is a chiropractic physician, registered nurse, and massage therapist. She has had 24 years of experience in the health professions.

She uses gentle, effective chiropractic methods restorative to the structural systems of the body. In addition to traditional chiropractic technique, she applies sacro-occipital technique, cranial technique, myofascial release, and myofascial trigger point therapy.

Dr. Nicotera draws on her extensive background in massage therapy and nursing to offer a comprehensive approach to pain relief and the achievement of optimum functioning. As a nurse, she worked in a variety of settings, including medical/surgical, emergency room, home health, long term care, and psychiatric care. She has been a massage therapist since 1986.

Dr. Nicotera is a graduate of Western States Chiropractic College and the Holyoke Community College School of Nursing.

Dr. Nicotera believes that a health practitioner's role is to help her patients identify areas that need change or balance, and to support them in making these healthy changes. She likes working at Northampton Wellness Associates because it is "a team of people who truly care about patients and their wellness. We combine a variety of talents and approaches to help our patients heal.


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Liz O'Dair, MD, MPH is board certified in Family Practice, and she has completed training at the Institute for Functional Medicine.

Like Dr. Elson and Dr. Lynch, Dr. O'Dair specializes in innovative approaches to chronic illness, allergies, medical nutrition, and preventive health care. She also adds her expertise in women's health care, including bioidentical (natural) hormone therapy.

"In my experience, patients want to be heard and respected," says Dr. O'Dair. So I regard all patients as partners in their own care. Patients now want their physicians to consider a wide range of approaches to treating chronic illness and to be experts on which of those various methods are most effective. That's what Integrative Medicine is all about -- coupling the best of conventional and alternative approaches to healing.

"I'm really excited to be working at Northampton Wellness Associates, since this position enables me to take a substantial amount of time with each patient in a healing environment. Here, we can consider the whole person. We can offer comprehensive services and very personalized care."

Dr. O'Dair is fluent in Spanish from her years in the Peace Corps. She enjoys hiking, camping, ballroom dancing, and traveling.




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Michelle Goulet, MSN, FNP is our nurse practitioner. She is especially skilled in women's health care, preventive medicine, nutrition, chronic illness, allergy, and exercise rehabilitation.

Michelle received her BSN in 1994, and her Master's degree in Advanced Practice Nursing in 1999, both from the University of Massachusetts.

After 3 years as an ICU/CCU nurse at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Michelle became interested in integrative medicine while working as an RN at Canyon Ranch Health Resort in the Berkshires. She then spent 6 years as a Family Nurse Practitioner providing primary care at a private practice in Springfield before joining us here at NWA.

Michelle says, "I like having enough time with each patient to better understand their needs. NWA is a wonderful place to practice integrative medicine. People feel really cared for and listened to."

Michelle lives with her husband and their young son. She and her family enjoy outdoor sports, especially hiking, snowshoeing, and canoeing. She also enjoys cooking, gardening, and jogging.


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Lisa Hall, BSN, RN is our Office Nurse and Patient Educator. She is also certified in Jin Shin Jyutsu as both a Practitioner and a Self-Help Instructor.

Ms. Hall received her BS in Nursing from Washburn University, in 1998, and worked as a floor nurse in several hospital departments.

She went into nursing with a background in massage therapy and alternative approaches to healing.She says, "I was looking for a way to bridge the gap between complementary and conventional medicine. Northampton Wellness Associates is one of a handful of integrative clinics in New England, and it is great to be working with Dr. Elson. I feel that we are able to do a better job of listening to our patients here, and we can address their health care from a holistic perspective. All of this makes my job the most satisfying one I can imagine in nursing."


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Steven Tenenbaum, LICSW provides stress management counseling and psychotherapy. He practices cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic and interpersonal therapy techniques. He provides individualized training in Mindful-Based Stress Reduction and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which are techniques especially helpful for alleviating anxiety and stress-related disorders. He helps our patients with a wide range of psychological and emotional problems, including depression, anxiety, trauma, chronic pain, adjustment to medical illness, life transitions, grief/loss and relationship issues.

Mr. Tenenbaum, a graduate of the Columbia University School for Social Work, has been a practicing psychotherapist since 1985. He has worked in hospital, out-patient clinics, and private practice settings. He is a firm believer in a person's capacity to face and endure the ongoing emotional, psychological and physical challenges of living, whether compromised by illness or overwhelmed by the stress of everyday life.

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Vicki Elson, MA, CCE is a Certified Childbirth Educator offering classes for expectant parents. She was certified to teach prenatal classes by Informed Homebirth/Association of Labor and Childbirth Educators (IH/ALACE) in 1983, and she has been training childbirth educators locally and nationally for the past ten years. Her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Massachusetts focused on childbirth anthropology.

Vicki's classes are appropriate for parents planning either a home birth or a hospital birth, with an emphasis on cultivating confidence, strength, and joy. Topics include nutrition, exercise, physiology of pregnancy and birth, relaxation and other tools for a fearless labor and birth, understanding and preventing complications and interventions, postpartum care of the mother, newborn care, breastfeeding, becoming parents, birth in cultural perspective, and responsible health care consumerism.

Vicki also coordinates special projects for Northampton Wellness Associates. She serves on the Boards of Directors of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School and of The Bicycle Pavilion, a budding local museum. Vicki and her husband Barry have three grown children and two amazing grandchildren.

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Office Staff

Allergy Department

Medical Department